Auberge la Fenière

A stylish Provencal inn run by two-star Michelin chef Reine Sammut is located up the road from an unspoiled historic village.

• The copious breakfasts of croissants, homemade bread, cakes, jams and lavender honey
• The proximity of Lourmarin’s boutiques and historic château
• Reine Sammut's morning cooking classes, which culminate in lunch made from ingredients plucked from the vegetable and herb patch

Set behind plane trees, on the road leading to the village of Lourmarin, La Fenière is run by one of France’s top Michelin-starred chefs: Reine Sammut. The place started as a simple patio restaurant that Sammut launched twelve years ago in a refurbished 19th-century farmhouse. Little did Sammut know that her self-taught cuisine—a creative mix of family recipes from Malta, Tunisia, Sicily and Provence—would catapult her into the limelight. Today La Fenière has evolved into a charming eighteen-room country inn, a gastronomic restaurant and a neo-rustic bistro, La Cour de Ferme, in an enormous barn. There’s also a boutique that specializes in local gourmet products.

The original seven rooms, located in the main house right above the Baroque-meets-Zen dining room, are done in traditional Provencal style. There are eleven more in different sites across the property. The farm’s revamped stables comprises six contemporary Bellevue suites, featuring a flashy color scheme of reds and violets, Pop art and private terraces with a view of the lush hillside vineyards and the Durance river valley. Friends or families seeking privacy, meanwhile, may prefer to book the owners' former private home, a 19th-century, gray-stone granary, tucked behind the olive and fruit tree grove, that has been converted into a comfy four-bedroom annex. It's outfitted with hand-stitched quilts, a plum leather sofa, pistachio walls and a cavernous red-tiled bathroom. The property has a stone pool for swimming.

Among the Auberge’s international clientele, you’ll meet members of the Parisian beau monde such as French fashion and soccer stars, but the atmosphere is friendly and relaxed, thanks to Sammut, whose personality is as radiant as her cuisine. Highlights of the latter include a John Dory carpaccio with local olive oil, roast lamb with spices and pineapple confit with dark chocolate mousse and an exotic raspberry-hibiscus sorbet.

Couples, families, foodies, art-lovers.